"Mom!" Ten-year-old Mackenzie yelled from her bedroom where her younger sister, Indianna was attempting to climb up to the top of the wardrobe. Sighing, the girls' mother dropped the washing and headed up to Mackenzie's room to discover the problem.

"What is it Mackenzie?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Bailey saw her youngest daughter halfway up the wardrobe. Letting out a shriek, she rushed across the room and grabbed the little girl, yanking her off and putting her back on the floor.

"Momma! I want up!" Indianna cried, pointing up to the wardrobe again.

"Sorry sweetie. It's dangerous for little girls. Mackenzie, why didn't you stop her?" Bailey rounded on her other daughter.

"I didn't think she'd get that far." Mackenzie said with a nonchalant shrug, turning back to her laptop which was open on her lap. Bailey let out a low growl and snatched the laptop away, shutting it harshly.

"Hey! I was using that." Mackenzie complained.

"I don't care. Your sister was climbing up an unstable structure. Why would you not do something? You're grounded young lady. You can stay here until your father comes home." With that, Bailey took hold if Indianna's hand and marched out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She led Indianna down to the living room where two of her sons, Xavier and Oscar were watching TV.

"Boys, look after your sister please." She instructed, setting the young girl in between the boys.

"Sure mom. What was Mac yelling about?" Oscar asked.

"Don't worry. But don't go into her room, she's in trouble." Bailey said before heading back to the laundry to finish her task. As she worked, she reflected on her life. After graduating from Seven Seas High, she had left for Yale, without Cody. Starting classes, her life began to blur and after the first few weeks, she began to feel like there would be no end to the mess that was her life. She'd been sitting in her dorm one night, attempting to study when she'd been interrupted by a knock on her door. Opening it revealed Cody standing there with a bunch of flowers and chocolate.

"Cody! What are you doing here?" She asked excitedly, letting him into her room.

"I told you I'd come visit, didn't I? Well, here I am. And I have news." He grinned.

"What?"

"I talked to the Dean of admissions and it turns out there was a mistake in my letter and I actually got accepted. I'm coming to Yale!" He cried. And the rest, you could say is history.

Both of them graduated top of their classes and while Cody became a Lawyer, Bailey went into a career of Veterinarian. They got married a few months after graduation, a small ceremony on the beaches of Hawaii with only their closest family and friends attending. After their honeymoon, they moved into a huge house in Chestnut Hill, near the reservoir. For two years, they lived happily together and finally decided that they were ready for children. Eventually, Bailey fell pregnant and nine months later, she gave birth to their first children, fraternal twins Freya and Alexander. When the twins were one, Bailey again fell pregnant, this time with their next son, Oscar. There was a break between Oscar and the next set of twins of about two years and along came identical twins Melissa and Faith. It was barely eighteen months afterwards that Mackenzie and Xavier were born. Another year passed before their youngest son, Matthew was born, followed another year later by Indianna.

With a total of nine children, Cody and Bailey decided that was enough and Cody received a vasectomy. Because of the amount of work needed to look after nine children, Bailey decided to become a stay at home mom while Cody worked. It was now that they were extremely thankful for their large house, meaning that nearly every child had their own bedroom. When Indianna had been born, they had not had a spare room and had told the children that someone had to share. In the end, Alexander offered to share with Oscar at the same time that Melissa and Faith offered to share. To avoid an argument, they had allowed both pairs to share a room, leaving them with a spare room in case someone wanted to have their own room again.

The house itself was perfectly laid out for a big family, with what was affectionately known as the 'kids wing' taking up most of the second level. There was a large open area in the middle with all eight bedrooms around the edge, a large bathroom off to one side. In the big area, there was an array of coloured bean bags on the floor around a huge TV. On the walls in between each door was a photo turned into a sticker of each child, a frame surrounding the face so that part of the image could still be seen outside the frame. A big stereo system took place opposite the TV and it was nearly always playing.

Down on the ground level, a huge country style kitchen was the centrepiece with a large dining room on one side and a formal living room on the other. An entry way was cut in half with a staircase leading up to the second level on one side, the entry to the kitchen hidden behind it. The master bedroom was tucked in beside the front entry and the dining room with an ensuite and walk-in-wardrobe. Beside the front door was a large rack that was covered with shoes for the entire family. The kitchen had one wall that almost completely opened up to the backyard where a big patio was covered with a big grill and dining table. At the back of the yard was a big fire pit where the family liked to gather in the summer and tell stories.

A third level, the basement held the laundry and a small parent's retreat as well as Cody's treasured wine cellar and an average sized home theatre. There was also a third bathroom, a home library and small study where the kids could use the computers to research if they needed. There was an overall theme to the house of an old country farmhouse, with worn furniture taking residence in every room. By the time Bailey finished in the laundry, Cody had arrived home and was relaxing in the living room with Indianna on his lap. Oscar and Xavier had been joined by Alexander and the three of them had left the couch, taking up residence on the floor.

"Hey sweetie. How was your day?" She asked, going over and leaning across the back of the couch, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Until then, my day had been pretty average." He grinned at her, putting Indianna on the floor with her brothers and leading Bailey into the kitchen.

"I missed you today." Bailey told him, pulling him into an embrace.

"I missed you too. Why is Mackenzie so upset?" Bailey grimaced and pulled back a bit.

"I told her off this afternoon. Indi was in her room and trying to climb up the wardrobe. Instead of doing something, she just called me." Cody shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know what she has against Indi. She was never upset about Matt."

"It's a sister thing, I think. She thinks that Indi will take her place as our little girl. I was like that when Bobbie was born."

"But, even Freya's our little girl still."

"I know that, and you know that, but try explaining it to a ten year old." Bailey said with a laugh.

"I guess. What are we doing for dinner tonight?"

"I was thinking of throwing some sausages on the grill and putting a couple of salads together. I can't really be bothered to make anything more complicated."

"Sounds good to me. Do you want me to man the grill?"

"If you'd like. I'll get started on the salads. Any requests?" Having such a big family meant that everyone had different favourites so there was always an extensive amount of food in the cupboards.

"Whatever you feel like." Bailey kissed him again before heading over to the freezer and grabbing out a pack of sausages and passing them over to him to cook on the grill outside. Before heading out, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped it open, tossing the lid at her which she caught and put in the bin, a move they'd perfected over their years of marriage.

Within an hour, the sausages were being pulled off the grill and Bailey was busy setting the table on the patio with the salads in the centre. When she was done, she went back to the kitchen and pressed a button on the intercom that sent a buzz through the whole house, alerting the kids to the meal awaiting them. It was like a herd of elephants coming through the house as all nine of the children rushed out, trying to get to the best spot at the table.

It took an hour before everyone was finished and the kids slowly left the table, each one taking their plate into the kitchen until it was only the salad dishes left and the sausage plate. A friendly silence fell over the Martin household as each child moved from their day-time activities to their evening activities. Freya and Alexander were down in the study with Oscar finishing some homework. Melissa and Faith were lounging on the floor of the area upstairs, flipping through a magazine while Xavier watched the TV with Matthew. Mackenzie was sulking in her bedroom and Indianna was in the kitchen with her parents, helping to put the dishes away before heading up to bed. Cody and Bailey eventually joined Matthew watching the TV but sent him to bed soon after and flipped the channel to watch the news. By ten-thirty all the kids were in bed with their lights out so Cody and Bailey went down to their room where they collapsed into their own bed, exhausted from the day.

Yes, their lives seemed chaotic but it really wasn't they all had a schedule to follow and Cody and Bailey had drilled into their kids the importance of sticking to it to prevent total chaos breaking out.